Whichever government is elected by the people of Guyana on May 11, it will undoubtedly face a huge challenge in working towards national reconciliation and tackling burning issues such as crime and corruption.
It is a moot point as to whether the PPP/C recognises this, so intent are they on maintaining the narrative that whatever ills the country might be suffering are the fault of Mr Forbes Burnham (who died in 1985) and the PNC (defeated at the polls in 1992). Indeed, so keen are they to trumpet their success in developing the country during the past 23 years that party apparatchiks like Mr Hydar Ally can speak of “the creation of a modern and broad-based economy,” as in a letter to the editor on Wednesday.
Meanwhile, the APNU+AFC coalition continues to target “crime, corruption and cronyism,” as presidential candidate David Granger reminded us at the presentation of lists at City Hall on Tuesday. More notably, the APNU’s weekly columns in this newspaper are promising a strong commitment to “good, accountable governance” with yesterday’s piece declaring that an “APNU+AFC government will put an end to crime, corruption and cronyism in public administration” and promoting the concept of “open government” in order to “dismantle the PPP’s structure of secrecy and opaque decision-making.”
It will, of course, be up to each voter to decide how compelling an argument is being made and how sincere this commitment is, but there can be no doubt that, unlike the PPP/C which seems unable or unwilling to acknowledge the reality and extent of corruption in the country, the APNU+AFC is alive to the concerns of a significant number of citizens.
In this respect, the thoughts of another letter writer, Mr Kofi Dalrymple, expressed on Wednesday, seem particularly apposite. This is the essence of Mr Dalrymple’s contribution to the national debate: “We must decide what kind of country we want for future generations and ourselves… We must decide whether we want a country founded on corruption and crime or whose foundation should be established on truth and justice; whether we will gain our wealth through illegal business or conscientiously pay our bills through honest hard work and creativity. We must decide whether we will treat our fellow countrymen as equals or hate and malign each other; whether we will build up or whether we will tear down; whether we will hold onto the bitterness of the past or embrace a united future.” In this vein, he calls on citizens to be “actively engaged” to ensure accountability amongst our political leaders.
We all know, though, that the question of how exactly we, the citizens, hold our politicians accountable in between elections has been something of a Gordian Knot for too many years now. The idea of open government is indeed very attractive, but even the APNU+AFC would have to recognise that there is also considerable public scepticism after decades of broken promises.
It is, of course, fairly easy to make grand promises and nice-sounding statements when on the hustings. Fulfilling commitments and putting words into action are quite another challenge altogether. Whoever wishes to assume the mantle of power after May 11 would therefore be well advised not only to take note of the concerns of the Guyanese people and exhortations such as Mr Dalrymple’s but also be prepared to show real leadership in addressing the country’s myriad and deep-rooted problems.
Two Fridays ago, we made the point that firm action is necessary to fight corruption and called on the campaigning parties to commit themselves to respecting the rule of law and punishing wrongdoing. Perhaps that is easier said than done and corruption is, of course, not the only curse afflicting our nation, but it would be a good place to start.
The hydra-headed monster of corruption is resilient, pervasive and, in our culture, sadly ubiquitous and too easily accepted as normal. In addition to unassailable integrity and moral rectitude, vast reservoirs of courage, perseverance and patience are required to lead the fight against corruption.
One or two crusaders cannot alone conquer corruption. A cultural and societal sea change is necessary. For this to happen, there has to be leadership by example and there has to be buy-in at every level of society. All our political leaders, whether incumbent, aspiring or in-waiting, must embrace the desire for change and demonstrate the will to make it happen by committing to putting in place the necessary institutional and legislative structure.